Hot Wheels: Acceleracers: The Full Story
by RTak
Summary: The Acceleracers team are back in an action-packed new racing adventure. Experience new characters in both new and old realms as Vert returns, the Silencerz are explained, and Shirako finally gets a backstory, well, eventually.
1. Prologue

Acceleracers Chapter 5: The Aftermath Prologue

**I do not own Acceleracers or any characters, vehicles, or other intellectual property thereof. Any new characters, vehicles, etc. introduced over the course of this story of my property.**

Location: Unknown

A shadowy figure walks through a dark room, the only indication of his presence being the sound of his footfall. He pulls back a seat resting in front a desk that had a sort of large screen (several feet in size, larger than most television screens) integrated into it. He sits and, as he does, a holographic set of unmarked controls display before him. He quickly begin using them, the screen popping to life in response.

He switches to touch screen control, and begin navigating through an array of digital files displayed on the screen. He hits one with his finger, and the screen shows its contents. He presses on one of these documents, and a viedo and document are shown of the large display. He takes his index finger and his thumb, press the against the screen over the document, and he spreads them apart causing the document to open, filling the entire screen. The screen dims and a teal circle with various curved rectangles orbiting around it pops up.

He presses a sequence of buttons on the keyboard, and the odd symbol disappears. He began to look at the document and pulled the video up over it. Beginning to watch the video, a combination of security, helmet, and onboard camera footage combined with overlayed audio data, he leaned back, almost tense seeming.

He sat watching the viedo intently for quite a while. The following is what the video displayed.

**I realize Chapter 1 had no direct references to the Acceleracers, but this masked man will become very important later on, very later on. I reworked this because it was poorly written and 44% of the readers didn't go on to read chapter 2. I'm not sure if they were seeing how many chapters it was or if this first chapter made them decide not to keep reading, but I implore anyone else to continue reading. I will be posting new chapters ASAP.**


	2. Chapter 1: Introduction Part 1

Acceleracers Chapter 5: The Aftermath Part 1

**I do not own Acceleracers or any characters, vehicles, or other intellectual property thereof. Any new characters, vehicles, etc. introduced over the course of this story of my property.**

Location: Silencerz HQ

Vert had been with the Silencerz for about a month. They had tried to explain why they did what they did, but Vert couldn't find it justified. He lazed about in his quarters (Major Jack Wheeler refused to let him leave) until the electronic sliding door came open.

Three Silencerz walked in, donned in full uniform. One pressed a button on the side of his helmet (the same wraparound style as Major Wheelers') and began to speak in understandable speech. He said "Come with us, Vert."

Vert had every intention to begin questioning them, but before he could the one who had spoken grabed him by the wrist, saying "Now." They began weaving their way suspiciously sneakily through the sleekly designed halls of the Silencerz HQ. They came into a large garage, containing vehicles used when the Silencerz don't need to move ASAP (then they would use the better known liquid metal car constructer). Another Silencer drove up in none other than the Reverb, completely torn apart and rebuilt, but still the Reverb. Vert naturally ran up to commandeer the vehicle, but the Silencer with the wraparound visor (who was quickly appearing to be a sort of leader of the group) grabbed his shoulder, saying "You're riding with me."

Each Silencer went up to a specific car. The one with a visor that were about the size and shape of Kurt Wylde's goggles pulled himself into a Technetium, the one with a wide, flat visor dominating the front of his helmet climbed into an Anthractite, and the one with te wraparound visor slipped into an Iridium. He opened the right side hatched and watched as Vert struggled in through the opening in the glass. When Vert settled in, the three accelerated for what appeared to be a wall. The Silencer driving the Reverb sped after them.

Knowing that with the Silencerz, seeing isn't believing, the four vehicles went through the wall onto a desolate access road in what appeared to be the Rocky Mountains. As they drove off the access road onto a highway like one (still oddly desolate), a group of other Silencerz followed by another came after them.

The first group used to cloaking and disappeared, apparently leaving the road as the second group drove right through the gap. But one car from the first group became visible again, still in the minute gap between the four and their pursuers. The car (an Anthracite) began to be covered in purple energy, but instead of the impairing discharge that usually follows, he spins the car sideways and, as it slides back into the group of chasing vehicles, it explodes in a devestating display. The pursuers' vehicles are at worst severly damaged, forcing their dirvers to escape using the PERS (Personal Emergency Return System) back to the headquarters or at least blinded, leaving their hunt dead in its tracks.

Location: Tezla's Cube

The Acceledrome crew had been surviving for a month at Tezla's Cube, in the Sweeper. They had been trying to think up a way to get in touch with Vert ever since he disappeared through the Wheel.

As they stood talking amongst each other outside the sweeper, a Silencerz vehicle approached, kicking up a plume of sand behind it. The vehicle (an Iridium) drove almost into the sweeper's rear protrusion before conducting a 180 degree spin, placing the passenger side towards the racers.

The individual that emerged from the passenger seat was none other than Vert, who got out of the vehicle with much greater grace than he got into it with. The driver emerged, donned in full Silencerz apparel. He pressed a button on the side of his visor and the helmet retracted into his collar, revealing a pale face, somewhat frckled, with dark blonde hair that seemed to change color as the light beamed inconsistently on it, and gray-blue eyes that have more color on the edge than near the pupil. Vert turned to him, now knowing it wasn't his father, and began to speak.

He asked "Why did you save me?"

The Silencer replied "You were only one objective. Several things the Silencerz have been closely guarding are gone."

"Why was I one of those things?"

"You are one of the best racers in the world. A prodigy. If my and my compatriots' calculations are correct, the realms may soon begin reopening. A sort of global realm reset, if you will."

"So, you're sayin' that the realms are gonna start openin' again." Nolo chimed in.

"Yes." The Silencer replied.

"Then how are we going to get through? Our portal was destroyed." Taro stated.

"You shall see. Follow me."

**I know the chapters are short, but no complaints=no changes. These cliffhangers are tedious I know, but I'm trying to get a feel for good stopping points and I don't want an excessively long chapter. I may edit them together later.**

**Note: I edited Ch. 2 and Ch. 3 together, which is the above. But I'll probably stay at about 800-1k words per chapter, except in realms.**


	3. Chapter 2: Introduction part 2

Acceleracers Chapter 5: The Aftermath Part 2

**I do not own Acceleracers or any characters, vehicles, or other intellectual property thereof. Any new characters, vehicles, etc. introduced over the course of this story of my property.**

The Acceledrome crew began to get into the Sweeper to follow the Silencer. With Monkey at the wheel, the massive construct rolled forward as the comparatively miniscule silver and purple car dashed ahead of it. He led them through the slalom of turns leading to the old Acceledrome. As they raced towards the entrance to the destroyed base, Monkey hesitated. Luckily, Kurt noticed that the hologram was back up, so he pressed the sterring wheel in to accelrate the massive drone abomination.

The Sweeper landed on the old landing ramp they had landed in so long ago, and the Silencer had already parked in the antechamber. The Sweeper veered to the right as best it could to get enough room to stop. The Acceledrome suddenly came to life, illuminating it, albeit inconsistently.

The group departed from the massive alien creation, and began to look around the supposedly obliterated base. They saw several admittedly primitive looking machines working on the damaged walls, holographic projectors, lights, and so forth.

"Why rebuild here?" Kurt said.

"Simple. No one would ever expect us to return to the base they already know about." The Silencer replied.

"Who **are** you?" Dr. Tezla said as he walked out of the Sweeper.

"I am Cain." The Silencer told him.

Tezla looked down and to the side, trying to remember his possible former comrade.

"I suppose formal introductions are in place." Cain stated.

Cain snaps his fingers and another Silencer off a few meters away, directing the machines by the look of it, turns and removes his helmet. Throwing the helmet in the Anthracite next to him, he walks up to Cain.

Looking at the dark haired, gray eyed Silencer next to him, Cain began to speak.

"This is John." he said. Standing side-by-side, the two looked very similar, but John's eyes lacked the blue tone of the other, his hair was dark and lacked shimmer, and his face lacked the freckling of the other Silencer.

"Those two are Wayne and Ryan." Cain says, pointing first to a broad-bodied person over next to the temporary supports, working on some sort of device and then to a lanky individual, hanging upside-down held up by a support harness, working on a wall panel. These two weren't wearing Silencerz uniforms, but silver jumpsuits.

Cain looked down at the machines woring on the Wheel holographic projector and said, "When will the Wheel projector be ready?"

"Within three hours." A mechanized, but fluid voice answered.

"Excellent."

"Wait; aren't you forgetting something, Cain?" John stated.

"Of course;" Cain replied, "I think you all know our friend here."

As he said that, none other than Gig flew down next to him.

"Gig." Vert said estatically.

"Gig?" Tezla said questioningly.

"We took an X-88 frame, stripped it out, made new software from the ground up, recovered what data we could from Gig's systems, and made resonable assumptons about the rest. He's identical to the original, except for the whole betraying you to the Silencerz part." Cain explained.

"Can we at least go to the coference room before continuing this interrogation?" John said.

"Sure." Cain said. "The elevator isn't working yet. We'll have to walk. You'll be fine, right Tezla?"

"Yes." Tezla replied almost hostilely.

After walking up the temporary staircase up to he mostly rebuilt conference room (though swarming with more roughly humanoid robots performing repairs)and getting settled in, the group begin questioning John and Cain.

"Why do you think the realms will start opening again?" Kurt inquired.

"And why now?" Taro said, looking off to where the Wheel hologram would usually be.

"Our research indicates that, if someone refuses to accept the Acceleron's ultimate prize, like Vert did, they will remotely 'reset' the Wheel, destroying the Accelechargers in the process. And we have reasno to believe this will happen soon." Cain replied.

"Hey, are you going to race too?" Vert asked.

"Of course." John snapped.

"Wayne and Ryan to the conference room please." Cain said, his voice going through the working part of the intercomm through a microphone on his collar.

"As for vehicles, I took the liberty of recreating vehicles for all of you." Cain said. John set down sets of keys that he had picked up from the top of a monitor in the conference room.

Cain walks up to them, "Power Rage for Vert" he says, throwing a set of keys to him, "Battle Spec for Kurt, Chicane for Karma, Synkro for Nolo, Bassline for Shirako, Hollowback for Tork, Rivited for Taro, Spinebuster for Wylde, Rolling Thunder for Monkey, and Jackhammer for Porkchop, pre-beaten." he finishes, tossing a set of keys to each as he addresses them.

As the drivers get their keys, Wayne and Ryan make their way up the stairs and into the conference room. Their faces were now clearly visible. Wayne was muscular, but almost obese regardless. His features were muddled, looking like they could be sharp but not striking due to a large jaw bone and wide cheeks, causing the skin to not fit tightly over his skull. His hair was a light brunette, with hazel eyes so light they were almost amber. Ryan was quite tall, but not so much as to dominate the room, very thin (like a gymnist), and his features quite pronounced. He had brunette hair, brown eyes, a pale complexion, and skin that fit tightly over his face, making the sharp features of his skull visible.

"Where are our cars?" Ryan asked, leaning against a wall.

"The workers should be bringing them in shortly." Cain stated.

"Lastly, we will be assisted by this." Cain said, pressing a button on the projector built into the table.

A hologram of a small, floating symbol came up. "Behold, Avus. The most advanced Artificial Intelligence known to man." Cain flaunted.

"Probably." John added.

"Yeah, probably." Cain replied.

"He has an extenive archive of knowledge about the Accelerons, our tech, our enemies' tech, and so forth. He controls the machines working here, and he will control the extensive security system that is currently under construction." Cain said.

"I recommend you all go a few laps around the new practice circuit before you hit a realm." Cain added.

All the drivers began to file out, except the two Silencerz defectors and their comrades and Shirako. Ryan walked up to the inattentive Asian, pulled one of his headphones off his ear and siad, "Pay attention. Go and test drive the new Bassline with the others."

Shirako walked off slowly, prompting John to roll his eyes. Cain looked at Tezla and Lani and said, "Come with me to the control room."

When they arrived in the control room, the screens in the mostly rebuilt room came to life. Avus' symbol flashed on all of the before dimishing to the upper right hand corner of each.

"Run a security camera scan." Cain commanded.

"Running." A robotic voice belonging to Avus replied.

"Avus will be capable of aiding drivers in the realms as given tactical data to anyone needing it." Cain stated to Tezla and Lani.

"Well, anyone from the Acceledrome." John said (he didn't leave with the Teku and Maniacs).

"Of course. He can also sweep security, check data readouts, et cetera, et cetera." Cain further stated.

"Run check of the realm timer, Avus." Cain said.

As the timer sprang to life and began to tick down, Avus reported "Timer operational."

"I think we should get ready for the realms while we can." John said to Cain.

"You're right. Go get our racing cars and suits, they should be in the storage room." Cain said. Shifting his attention, he added "Ryan, take my car and lead our fifth team member in, please." over the intercomm.

"Fifth member?" Lani said, though Tezla was thinking the same.

"Yes. While we're on the topic of drivers, I was thinking we should send 8 or 9 drivers in to the realms, to maximize our chances of victory. With Avus, we could more easily manage drivers in the realms. It could help us win more Accelechargers."

"Very well." Tezla said, in cotemplation.

By the time this conversation had finished, Ryan had already sped off in Iridium out into the desert.

"Lani, did you expect me to not send every resource available here? Did you think a Silencer treason could succeed with only four turncoats? No, there is one more who will come here. Others will go into hiding, though. Or is there something else that troubles you. Afraid Avus will replace you, make you obsolete? No, he just a _little _too primitive for that." Cain rambled. "Avus, see if this Wheel hologram is working." Just after he said that, the Wheel hologram shot to life.

"Good." Cain said.

**No, the fifth member is not from the World Race, no it isn't Major Wheeler, etc. I know I haven't addressed Sparky, I know Gig has been totally quiet, and I know Kadeem and Gelorum's statuses are still up in the air. Just wait, the next two chapters will have enough exposition to adrress most if not all of these.**

**This may be the last chapter for a little while, so just hang in there, I will finish it.**


	4. Chapter 3: Introduction part 3

Acceleracers Chapter 5: The Aftermath Part 3

**I do not own Acceleracers or any characters, vehicles, or other intellectual property thereof. Any new characters, vehicles, etc. introduced over the course of this story of my property.**

**Review Replies from earlier: Thanks starfire. Kay, the story will be divided into two main sections, the first being as the long main section with the second not completely outline yet. Section 2 starts with the backstory of Shirako. As for Vert's return, it's understood that he had ridden in the assenger of Cain's Iridium all the way from Silencerz HQ to Tezla's Cube. I think the drivers would be more in awe in that, Vert disappeared a month ago, a suddenly, a Silencer, their enemy drove up with him in the passenger seat. I'd be in shock. Lastly, Cain rambles on because all five members of the unnamed third team of Silencerz defectors are based on people I know in real life. The person who Cain is based on has a tendency to carry on a conversation by figuring out what people are thinking before they can say it. So, he might do that sometimes when he is speaking face-to-face with people.**

"Cain, come down here." John said using the intercomm (obviously linked to his suit as well).

"What is it?" Cain replied.

"I think you might want to look at this data."

"What data?"

"The worker machines brought it in with our cars."

"I'll be right down." As Cain walked down from the control room towards the storage room, he reclosed his helmet and sent a message to Ryan, who was still in Cain's Iridium.

"When you return, bring the car down the lift into the new storage garage." he ordered.

"What of the Anthracite?" Ryan inquired.

"it'll be dealt with." Cain replied.

Reopening his helmet, Cain looked at one of the mechanized workers and said, "Take Anthracite down to the storage garage."

The machine silently complied.

Going through the new labrinyth of corridors to the storage room where his car was to be brought in, Cain heard a rumbling upstairs. His last teammate must've arrived. Looking down to a wrist interface, he pulled up the footage being recorded by one of the cameras. No one was coming out of the track, no one heard him. He clicked a button, sending Gig a data packet to read.

Back in the antechamber, Gig read the packet, stating "That is the last new racer. His name is Noah, Noah Pearman. He is a Silencerz defector like the others, and he will be waiting in his car for Cain to greet him."

"How do you know all that?" Lani inquired.

"Cain sent the information to me." the floating computer replied.

Now in the storage room, Cain took the tablet from John's hand. On it was detailed information about the vibration, emergy emissions, etc. of the Wheel of Power. Cain took its meaning immediately. "The realms will start opening again within a few hours."

"We should get in our racing suits and get our cars ready." John said.

"You're right, I think I know who'll go in whatever realm opens first."

"What if the projector isn't ready in time for the realm?"

"You of all people should know that that can't happen. Besides, both the Silencerz and Drones might not know to deploy their projectors."

"How do we know the Drones even have a projector?"

"We don't. Never underestimate your enemy though."

Over the course of that conversation, they had removed their Silencerz uniforms (under which is worn a gray jumpsuit) and put on almost metallic silver outfits that definately form fit better than anything their less professional counterparts wear. Both had a small symbol near the top of the sleeve, but they weren't the same. Cain's was a teal circle with a black curved comet-like shape on the inside slightly tilted towards the left side of the circle. John's was a purple triangle with a red line coming from each angle and meeting in the center.

Cain got into his car, an advanced design not too dissimilar from Iridium's. The vehicle wasn't split into two sections however and had teal window tint and lacked the side design of the Silencer car. The rear of the vehicle differed much more, though. The glass ended in a canopy, the vehicle had a more normal trunk and lacked a spoiler. Its rear wheel well wasn't at the very back, making the car look much more like a civilian vehicle. Another modification was the signal lights, the headlights being two single-piece headlights with an irregular shape (best described as oblong, but with a bulge on the side away from the center of the hood), the light coming from a ring of LED lights running along the edge of it, the center having two IPL (Intense Polarized Light) generators. Finally, the finish was a more metallic style than the one used by the Silencerz. His vehicle was called Osmium.

John's vehicle was also a varitaion on Iridium's platform, but much more heavily altered. Unlike Cain, who had made the design less unusual, John did the opposite. Further incresing the difference in design choice, his vehicle's windows were tinted to the deep purple, but till lacked the side design of the Silencer car. The vehicle he had redesigned had an elongated hood, housing an enlarged and heavily modified V12 engine. Its top had been flattened, but the cockpit was modified so the driver and instruments were lower in the car. His car also lacked the central split, spoiler, and glass extensions over the wheel, but John had extended the rear of the vehicle, ending the wheel well, but only to the end of installing a Nitrox 2 afterburner. The vehicle was further modified with widened frame at the rear, hiding more advanced technology doubtless hidden inside its aluminum chassis. His car was dubbed as Molybednum.

Driving out through a new ramp that was accessed by a false wall in the storage room, they brought their new vehicles into the antechamber. Seeing his awaited teammate, Cain got out and walked over to the other vehicle, a Formula 1-esque racer with an extension out from the body to cover the wheels, a lengthened front end made with hard metal and including a front protusion in case of a collision. The engine was only semi-covered and almost comical large, though part of that is due to the engine's unusually high resting place in the car's frame. The vehicle's rear end was larger, facilitating a series of four large exhausts to remove the high emissions of the engine. The spoiler was affixed differently, resting higher and connecting to both the main frame and a rear bar designed to reduce damage from a rear collision. The cockpit was also widened and a canopy top added.

As Cain arrived at the side of the vehicle, the canopy top retracted and a young driver (well, not by Teku standards) got out, pulling himself over the side of the car. He had deep blonde, curly hair, a smooth complexion, and hazel eyes. Just by looking at him, he didn't even appear old enough to drive, but he was 23. He wore a jumpsuit like the others, but his symbol was a navy blue Silencerz isignia with the top 1/6 of the wheel missing.

"You didn't have any issues get out here to scenic inside of nowhere, did you Noah?" Cain inquired.

"Only that stupid robot walking out in front of my car." he replied, pointing over his shoulder at Sparky.

"That old machine doesn't seem worth the fire hazard."

"Are you having any issues with the new car?"

"Only not knowing what to call it."

"Its official designation is the P.P.R. Can you think of a better name?"

"Uhh..., no."

"Ok, then. That's settled." Shifting his attention towards Ryan and Wayne, Cain said "Why don't you two get your new cars out?"

The two Silencerz defectors sprang to action, making their way into the labrinyth of hallways.

"I think you owe me some explanation from earlier." Noah said to Cain, who apparently understood what he meant.

"I suppose I do. Let's head up to the control room, I think I may have some explaining to do for them too.

When the two arrived in the control room, Lani was off tryring to get the onboard cameras to come through.

"You might want to have Avus turn them on, first." Cain said. "We left them off to conserve fuel. A refuel takes time, you know."

Not long after he said that, the cameras came to life.

"Control room to Nolo, can you hear us?" Cain said, having picked up the earpiece lying on the small Wheel projector.

"I hear you."

"Good."

"Why not call all drivers at once, and have them all respond?" Gig asked.

"You see, that is a _useful_ machine." Cain said jokingly to Noah.

"Control to all drivers; please respond." Cain said.

"This is Vert, can you hear me?"

"We can, Vert."

"I hear 'ya." Porckshop said.

"This is Monkey, you hear me?" Monkey said, uncertainly.

"Tezla, you deal with the others." Cain said, handing the earpiece over to the doctor.

"OK, Noah. Shoot."

"Why did you come after me?" Noah said.

"I needed every Silencer disloyalist I could get."

"Why didn't they come after me?"

"They no longer cared."

"Why do you think the realms will reopen?"

"I'm sorry, that's confidential."

"How won't the Silencerz find us again?"

"I have put measures in place."

Noah sighed, ending his interrogation.

Cain picked up a second earpiece, turning it on with a button on the side and putting it on his ear. "If anyone has anything to ask, now would be the time."

As he spoke, Wayne and Ryan returned.

Wayne's car was based on Octanium. The spoiler was removed, but a series of thruster like exhausts dominated his car rear end. The paint was a charred gray, and the purple Silencerz tint was changed to a fiery orange. The vehicle was vertically smaller by 10%, but longer by 10% as well.

Ryan's vehicle was not too different from Carbide, from which it was based. The cockpit was closed, the silver lightened, the Silencerz tint changed to a deep pine green, and several performance changes like height adjustable shocks added. The Silencerz decals were removed as per the norm, and the wing was straightened out.

"Why do you think the drones will go through the realms again?" Tork asked.

"They were built to drive and are driven to win the realms." Cain replied.

"Sir, we are getting strange feedback from the Chicane." Avus reported.

"Karma, can you hear me?"

"Yeah. What is it?" she replied.

"We're getting some strange data from your car. We think it may be something on our end. Could you get off the track so we can check our instruments?"

"On it."

"John, go examine the Chicane. Take this data readout and make sure everything lines up." He said, looking back to John.

John silently departed from the control room.

"Wait; why didn't you give your last names?" Karma inquired.

"Wayne, Ryan, you can relent. John and I reserve the right to keep our surnames unknown." Cain replied quickly.

"Wayne Carden." Wayne said flatly.

"Ryan Stevens; the pleasure is mine, Ms. Eiss." Ryan said, formally addressing Karma for the first time.

"Do you WANT me to hurt you right now, Ryan?" John said disgustedly as he walked up to Chicane.

"Are you satisfied, Karma?" Cain said over the intercomm.

"Yeah." she replied as John shook the Chicane trying to get under it.

John then proceeded to check the the undercarriage, checking it against the datapad. After a thorough examination he took an earpiece from his pocket and put it on his ear.

"Everything checks out, but I don't think Chicane could last a realm with this set up." John said.

"Thank you, John." Cain replied. Activating the intercomm, he continued "Karma, we don't think Chicane is in any shape to compete in a realm. We will try to conduct repairs. It would appear the shocks are very close to locking up."

"What does he mean?" Karma asked, looking to John.

"The shocks on it are retaining tension, rather than dispelling it. In other words, if the shocks are worked to hard for too long, they will break." John replied.

"How did that happen?" Ryan inquired.

"The workers rebuilt it. I haven't a clue how they could foul up like that." John answered.

"Does it matter? Just fix it." Wayne said angrily.

"Sorry, Karma. You might not be competing anytime soon." John said sarcastically.

"Shut up, John." Cain said, over the intercomm no less.

A small symbol suddenly appeared on one of the monitors in the control rooom, prompting Cain turn rushed down to Osmium. Getting in the vehicle, the holographic disaplys activated and he proceeded to press a single button near the steering column. A image display emitted from the dash, displaying a sequence of symbols not of Acceleron origin, nor drone, nor Silencer. He studied the symbols intently, before pressing a sequence of them. With that, the display disappeared. Cain got out of his car and vaulted the railing down to the Wheel projector, manually activating it. The hologram came up blurred at first, but after a worker robot made a quick adjustment, the holographic Wheel of Power once again dominated the Acceledrome.

"Get the drivers ready for realm racing." Cain said to John.

"Why?" John replied.

"You know the statistics." Cain stated glaringly.

"So be it." John said as he walked away.

Cain vaulted the railing again and proceeded to get in his car. Cain took his earpiece off and donned his helmet, a basic design with a rounded off visor over the eyes. The entire helmet was silver, and the visor black tinted and too dark to be seen through.

Suddenly, the drivers emerged from the test course where they had been practicing.

"Tezla, I'll call the drivers when the realm opens." Cain called over his helmet mic to the control room.

Cain pressed a button on his hologrpahic display and a screen came up. Not but a few seconds later, the Wheel began to spin around its barycenter. As the Wheel spun, an image of it followed it on the holographic screen, and a timer begin to tick down.

Clicking the side of his helmet, Cain said "The following drivers will enter the realm: Cain, John, Wayne Carden, Ryan Stevens, Noah Pearman, Nolo Passaro, Kurt Wylde, Taro Kitano, Mitchell 'Monkey' McClurg."

"Hey, why did you call _your _whole team and not us?" Wylde said, hitting the Spinebuster with his drone arm and pointing at Cain.

"Some of them haven't raced in quite a while; this realm should get them back in the mindset of racing." Cain said, looking up at the Wheel "While I'm thinking of it, I think I may be able to create a better machine arm to replace that, if you'll let me."

"Will it help me drive?" Wylde replied, intrigued.

"Yes."

"Then give it to me."

"After the realm."

Meanwhile, John, Wayne, Ryan, and Noah had gotten into their respective vehicles. John put on his helmet, a design similar to Cain's, but with a square visor and sharper, more angular edges on the helmet's own design. Wayne's was much different, bright red and orange colored, fiery, and hal of his face shielded by the helmet and the other half by a visor lifted and lowered via hydraulics or manually. Ryan, however, stayed true to his comrade's helmet design, his being more metallic and having a visor coming to a point just over the the of the nose being the only differences. Noah opted to not take a helmet at all, despite the exceptionally dangerous nature of the realms and his car.

Looking down at his display, Cain saw the Wheel spinning in real time. As he heard the second ring coming into place, he looked at the timer. It ticked down quickly and he accelerated off into the boosters before the realm opened. Looking at his display, now showing his car's telemmetry, he pressed a button next to it and Osmium's speed stabilized. As he came up to the portal, a holo-display popped up on his visor and he pressed a button on the right top of his jet-like steering wheel. The vehicle lurched forward and blue falme came from its tires, and as it began to jump, the realm portal opened.

Osmium went though the portal, Cain quickly reporting "The second booster is not working; you have to use your Nitrox."

**I am sorry for the long period of time it took to finish this chapter. Things have been busy as of late, and this chapter is quite long as well. I won't abandon the story, I promise. But, before anyone thinks of it, no, Cain's helmet is in not based on that worn by Robocop. And sorry for the cliffhanger, but I refuse to make this chapter any longer.**


	5. Placeholder

**I wish I could continue but to put it plainly life happened. I kind of lost interest in all the background work I'd have to do to get to what I consider the interesting part. I'll put up a poll to leave the course of action to anyone that cares, but I'd say not to expect anything until early June regardless of the result. **


End file.
